When Mr Aloysius Katerega lost his home and belongings in a devastating fire at Kaazi-Malanga landing site in Bujumba Sub-county, Kalangala District on May 24, he thought reconstructing the house would help him return to the life he had before the disaster.
‘My wife, who currently is in prison, started the fire out of anger after a domestic brawl, making me lose the house that sheltered us,’ he says.
To survive, he says, he rented a wooden makeshift house at Shs20,000 a month and started using proceeds from fishing to buy timber and other materials to construct another house on his piece of land.
‘I used the money I got from fishing to buy a few pieces of timber and used old iron sheets to set up the structure on my land to do away with renting by September this year,’ Mr Katerega explains.
But before he could complete the new house, another fire struck. On September 21, at about 9.30pm, the fire swept through Kaazi-Malanga landing site, destroying more than 20 houses, including the rental accommodation structures where Mr Katerega was staying.
For the fisherman, who had already spent months trying to recover from the first disaster, the latest fire meant starting over again.
‘I have been hit hard this time round because currently I depend on the charcoal business, which also isn’t that profitable. I have no hope that I will regain the good life I had before May 24,’ he says.
‘I request any humanitarians out there to cushion me from this difficult situation so that I can get back on my feet,’ he adds.
For 74-year-old Justine Nabatanzi, the recurrent fires have also turned a modest recovery into another struggle for survival.
After losing her house in the May 24 fire, Ms Nabatanzi says local residents helped her rent a wooden room and start a small mandazi business from which she hoped to regain some financial independence.
But about three months later, another fire destroyed her home and property before she had recovered. Today, she sleeps in a makeshift shelter.
‘I have no soap, no money, no sugar, and no place to stay. I sleep in the cold as mosquitoes feast on me,’ she says.
Ms Nabatanzi says she cannot afford to rent another house because the money she had was also lost in the fire. She is now left to use polythene bags and burnt cotton clothes as bedding while sleeping on the ground.
‘We haven’t received any relief during this double disaster. Life is getting harder to bear. I am old; I can’t do any hard jobs. I sit in my shelter and wait for any help from Good Samaritans,’ she says.
Her experience mirrors that of other islanders who have lost homes and livelihoods in repeated disasters and have relied largely on fellow residents and local leaders to begin rebuilding their lives.
The Kaazi-Malanga fire outbreak destroyed more than homes. According to local leaders, mobile money outlets, charcoal, fishing net stores, bars, salons and rental units were among the businesses affected.
Mr Ashiraf Ssenoga, the LC1 chairperson of Kaazi-Malanga, says more than 20 houses went up in flames, leaving families with little to return to.
‘My residents have suffered a huge loss. Money, mattresses, phones, food and motorcycles perished in the fire,’ he says.
Mr Ssenoga says the cause of the fire has not yet been established and residents are still waiting for the police report.
He appeals to the Office of the Prime Minister, government agencies and disaster management authorities to support the affected households.
‘Some residents have remained with one cloth, others are back to zero in terms of business, yet they have loans and others are Parish Development Model beneficiaries,’ he adds.
Mr Ssenoga says some residents had previously abandoned fishing to establish small businesses in search of more stable livelihoods, only to lose their enterprises in the fire.
‘We need iron sheets, timber and food because currently some have nowhere to sleep,’ he says.
Unlike the mainland where most fires are blamed on either arsonists or short electric circuits, most infernos in Kalangala are a result of poor storage and handling of fuel, which some islanders keep in their wooden houses.
Fires are persistent
The September 21 fire was followed by another fire at Kasenyi landing site in Entebbe, Wakiso District, at about 2pm on September 22 that affected dozens of households and left residents without shelter.
The incidents came after another fire at Mweena landing site in Kalangala, which destroyed homes and businesses and left 15 residents searching for accommodation as they tried to rebuild their livelihoods.
Police records indicate that Kalangala has experienced repeated fire outbreaks.
Eight fire incidents were reported within five months in 2022, while five were recorded in 10 months in 2024.
The incidents have been reported across all seven sub-counties.
The Kalangala District hazard, risk and vulnerability profile also identifies fire as a recurring hazard.
The 2016 profile recorded 30 fire incidents between 1986 and 2016.
Some of the most destructive incidents in recent years include the Lutoboka twin fires, which destroyed houses, shops and fishing gear and left more than 120 residents without shelter, according to police records.
Police have previously attributed fires in the district to electrical sparks, fuel stored in wooden houses and cooking stoves used inside wooden structures.
The fire at Desire Restaurant, a tourist facility in Kalangala, and that at Lutoboka were attributed to electrical sparks from an electricity meter.
At Mweena, police attributed another fire to a charcoal stove, while a fire at Kifufu village was linked to a wooden house where petrol was stored.
Fire truck response questioned
In January 2025, the Uganda Police Force deployed a firefighting truck to Kalangala and operationalised the Directorate of Fire Prevention and Rescue Services unit in the district following a series of destructive fires.
The Greater Masaka Regional Police spokesperson, Mr Twaha Kasirye, says the move was intended to bring emergency services closer to island communities.
Previously, Mr Kasirye says police could dispatch fire engines from Masaka City and cross Lake Victoria through the Bukakata ferry – a process that could take several hours.
The firefighting truck has since been used in responding to fires, including one that occurred at the offices of Kalangala Infrastructure Services, the Mweena landing site fire and the September 21 Kaazi-Malanga incident.
However, residents have raised questions about its response during the latest fire incident.
Mr Frank Walusimbi, a former LC1 chairperson of Kaazi-Malanga, says residents alerted police at about 9.30pm, but the firefighting truck arrived at around 11pm.
He also alleges that the vehicle encountered difficulties while fighting the fire.
‘It [fire engine] arrived minutes after we had contained the fire. It started extinguishing the other part where there was still smoke, but water got finished and it had to refill,’ he says.
Police, however, point to another challenge: the poor physical planning at various landing sites.
Mr Hillary Nuwahereza, the Kalangala District police commander, says closely packed houses and the absence of access roads sometimes prevent firefighters from accessing the scene.
‘Sometimes we reach on time and fail to reach the spot where the fire is because the houses are too close to each other with no roads to pass through to reach where the fire is,’ he says.
According to Mr Nuwahereza, islanders must also desist from cooking food inside the single room wooden houses where they sleep, which also serve as stores for petroleum fuels for their boat engines.
‘We advise local leaders to identify and establish a place at every landing site where they can put firefighting equipment, including sand to use in case of a fire outbreak, and they should always make sure they enforce such precautions,’ he says.
At various landing sites, Mr Nuwahereza says local leaders must also identify a centralised place away from homesteads where they can keep petrol as one of the measures to curb the rampant fire outbreaks.
‘Storage of items like petrol and charcoal which are the reported key causes of fire outbreaks has to be checked. Such items need to be kept in separate houses, at least 50 metres away from their homes,’ he adds.
Planning for safer landing sites
With fires continuing to expose the vulnerability of landing site communities, local leaders are now considering longer-term measures.
Mr Fred Nsubuga, the LC3 chairperson for Bujjumba Sub-county, says local leaders are considering allocating money for disaster response in the next financial year budget.
‘We believe however small it is, we can at least help our people to have a starting point to revive themselves in case of a fire outbreak,’ he says.
The Kalangala District Speaker, Mr Avius Muwombeefu, says fire outbreaks will be prioritised during the district council’s sitting.
He says the district planner will be tasked with developing physical plans for landing sites and villages to reduce the number of houses destroyed when fires occur.
Utility:
Previous fires in Kalangala District
January 9, 2022: Two people sustained severe injuries when fire gutted buildings in Nkese landing site.
The inferno also destroyed seven houses, with fishing nets and other gears worth millions of shillings destroyed.
March 13,2022: At least eight houses and millions-worth of property perished in an inferno that gutted part of Mwena landing site in Kalangala Town Council.
Eye witnesses attributed the fire to a resident who left a cooking stove unattened inside a wooden house.
March 28, 2022: Fire gutted a restaurant at Brovad Sands Lodge in Kalangala Town Council, destroying property worth millions of shillings.
May 10, 2022: Fire destroyed a section of Lukuba landing site in Kyamuswa Sub-county, forcing 300 residents to spend the night in the cold.
The devastating fire, which was blamed on a charcoal stove that was left unattended near one of the fuel stores, destroyed 104 houses.
Within the same month four wooden kiosks were destroyed by fire that broke out at Bugala B village in Kalangala Town Council.
June 10, 2022: Fire burnt down houses at Mawaala landing site, destroying property worth millions of shillings.
October 12, 2022: Several wooden houses and shops were destroyed by fire at Bubeke-Lwaazi landing site.
October 31, 2022: Fire broke out at Lutoboka landing site in Kalangala Town Council, destroying property worth millions of shillings.
The property included shops, residential structures, a Beach Management Unit office where one outboard engine and other items were being kept.
Caption: Victims of the September 22 fire outbreak at Kasenyi landing site in Wakiso District were left homeless. Photo/David Sekayinga